Marianne Vos might not have captured a 259th career victory on stage 3 of the Tour de France Femmes on Monday, but her second place behind Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) put her back into the maillot jaune, continuing Visma-Lease a Bike's near-perfect start to the race.
There was little Vos or any other rider could have done to prevent European champion Wiebes from blasting to her 15th victory of the season in Angers, but a second-place finish in her compatriot's wheel handed Vos a six-second time bonus, taking her back ahead of Kim Le Court into top spot.
With the race leaving Brittany and heading east, Vos swapped green for yellow, and she might not see the lead of the points classification again before the race's end. Following her dominant victory, Wiebes now leads Vos by 130 points to 112, and she's the favourite to win again in Poitiers on Tuesday.
Speaking in the post-stage press conference, once again resplendent in yellow, Vos said that the team's goals remain the same even if a green jersey might slip out of reach.
"Actually, the ambition didn't change from the start, riding GC with Pauline [Ferrand-Prévot] and going for opportunities for a stage win," Vos said. "We took one already, so that's fantastic. Having the yellow now is a big bonus.
"For the sprints in between, of course, we know the goal of Lorena Wiebes. She's hard to beat in these, but I want to grab the points when they're there. It's not the biggest ambition of our team, so that stays the same."
Wiebes, taking her first Tour stage win since 2023, also edged ahead at the day's intermediate sprint, taking fifth behind the breakaway and 13 points to Vos's 11.
Visma directeur sportif Jos Van Emden told Cyclingnews that green is not a primary objective for his squad, while forthrightly stating that Wiebes would win again on stage 4.
"It's in the back of our mind, but we have to be honest, Wiebes is by far the fastest," he said.
"She will also take full points tomorrow. We will grab some points where possible. It's not the main goal, but it can become a goal."
Later in the race, attention will turn back to the GC battle, and Visma will turn to their leader, Ferrand-Prévot. The French star is well-placed in third overall, four seconds up on Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) and seven up on Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez).
The Frenchwoman, who took third behind Vos on the opening day, has largely managed to stay out of trouble so far, though she was held up in the late crash on a tricky run-in to the finish.
Vos and several teammates – Femke De Vries, Eva Van Agt, and Lieke Nooijen – were up front and so avoided the carnage to set up the sprint. Ferrand-Prévot was caught behind but avoided a time loss and didn't go down.
"I did hear the crash behind me, but I didn't know how far it was behind me. When I looked around along the water, I saw I was the last one, so then I knew it was a very small group," Vos said.
"We knew it was an uphill drag to the 5km mark, so it was a good point to be in the front. It would be very difficult with the roundabouts, the fast descent, and the road furniture.
"But everybody knows that and that's the thing. We all know we have to be in front there and that's why it goes so fast and why things might go wrong."
While Vos, Ferrand-Prévot, and their Visma teammates avoided the pile-up, race favourite Demi Vollering wasn't so lucky. She was among numerous riders to fall, provoking anger in Angers from FDJ-Suez team manager Stephen Delcourt.
"We lose the respect into the last year in men’s and women’s cycling, everybody wants to play with a life like this," he said.
One question posed to Vos concerned that supposed lack of respect. Had it caused the crash?
"It's the Tour de France and everybody wants to be in front. It's pretty chaotic, especially in such a sprint finish, and coming into the city on a descent at high speed, but I don't think it's really about respect when everybody is fighting over every centimetre.
"Unfortunately, these things can happen. It's the riders who fight for the position that make it dangerous, but it's not really about respect, I think.
"Of course, it also happens in other races. It's just a sport where you have to fight for position. Of course, it's nice when people do this in a good and fair way and leave space, but you know these things can also unfortunately happen, but hopefully not too much."
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